[The following excerpts are taken from murdered journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad's new book Inside Al Qaeda and the Taliban: Beyond Bin Laden and 9/11. In the quotations given below, Syed does what he does best, something that no other Pakistani journalist has been able to do, provide detailed inside information on "al-Qaeda," Taliban and the ISI, stuff that no man could possess and live to write about. He wrote about these things for several years, surviving long enough to fill in many details of the "al-Qaeda" story. It was as though he alone was charged with writing the false narrative promoted by the CIA, that "al-Qaeda" was a large functioning organization which controlled much of Pakistan, especially FATA and the Tribal Regions.
All of his writings on Pakistan, since his short-lived venture into Afghanistan in 2006 (which ended abruptly with his arrest by the real Afghan Taliban), have built on the false narrative that the IMU (Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan) terrorists are "al-Qaeda," or at least that was how he described their adventures in South Waziristan in his many Asia Times articles. By interweaving reports of Zawahiri and bin Laden sightings into the narrative, the IMU of Yahir Yuldeshev effectively became "al-Q" to the world. Even now, after his passing, Syed is advancing the fictional tale that Islamists within the Pakistani armed forces are part of "al-Qaeda."
One thing remained consistent throughout Syed's writings on bin Laden's "Islamist Internationale," even though he lived in Pakistan, he always attacked the Pak military for its history with the Islamists without ever touching upon the subject of American extra-curricular activities with the same jihadis, since the anti-Soviet war ended. Not once has he mentioned American use of Pakistan's Islamists as a central element of US foreign policy in places like Bosnia, Chechnya and elsewhere.
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"Syed Saleem Shahzad will be forgotten after some time. His employer, Asia Times Online, will get the most out of publicity. And foreign news media will continue to push our young journalists into danger for dollars, fame and publicity. And thanks to Hillary Clinton for her statement, but it won't bring the smiles back to Saleem's wife and three kids....
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He turned out to be right.
Also see: CIA-Duh Journalist Killed in Pakistan